Hervor found herself being anxious for once in her existence. She stood close to Loki, as she always did in battle, but this time she knew there was chance of her not being able to protect him, and that scared her.
"It will be fine." Loki soothed.
"I wish you were right."
Loki looked around them to ensure none could hear them before leaning in close to her. "You are just as skilled and fast minded as you always have been, you know that. I was not defenceless before you came to me either need I remind you."
"I just have not been settled of late." She admitted.
"Still?" He looked to his friend.
"Something is about to change, I can sense it Loki."
"Just concentrate on the battle we are about to fight, worry more of your bad feelings when it is done, alright?"
"You are right." She conceded, gripping her sword tighter.
"I love when you say that." Loki smirked, earning him a elbow in the side, Hervor rolled her eyes at the comment.
A moment later, Thor landed beside them and swung the handle of his hammer to his hand. "Are you ready?"
"We are always the most prepared brother, you know that." Loki dismissed.
"Yes, well, if this plan goes well, the fighting will be swift and there will be little or no casualties; well to us anyway." The older prince stated, the tension within him vibrating as he felt the time to battle approaching. "Glad to be back in battle?" he asked Hervor.
"Is it not my nature?" She gave a small smile.
"Is it not all of ours?" Thor grinned back.
"Whatever would you do all day Thor were there to peace in the Nine Realms?"
Thor's face became serious. "That is not funny Loki." He shuddered. "Though since such is not a concern today, we shall get back to the matter at hand. You both are to remain here and pick off any that attempt to flee, understand?" The pair nodded. "There is also rumour that reinforcements were they to arrive, it would be through here." Thor pointed into the small valley beside them.
"How will we stop that?" Loki queried.
"Easy, you create a barricade with your seidr and we sent a couple of thousand tonnes of rock on top of them." Hervor pointed to the precariously balanced rock face above them on the far side of the decline.
"You are terrifying Hervor." Thor acknowledged.
"I try." She shrugged with a smile.
"You two ready?"
"As we can be." Loki answered, taking his daggers out, knowing that deserters would soon grace them with their presence with Thor and the main army easily outnumbering them three to one.
"Then brother, I shall see you soon."
"Come victory or Valhalla." Loki answered. With that, Thor used Mjolnir to fly away once more. "So we get the easy job." Loki threw his eyes up.
"That is debateable. It depends how many desert their posts and if there is truth to the rumours that there are reinforcements on the way. I rather my chances three to one in our favour, than who knows what in theirs." Hervor replied, sheathing her sword and taking the bow she had brought with her and standing at a point that gave her cover, but a clear shot and any who came toward her.
"You have not used that in some time."
"I pre-empted today's events, I sensed I would need it."
"The same sense as you had with regards change?"
"No, they are separate, but both as strong as one another, that is what concerns me so." She replied. Bright forks of lightning lit up the sky not too far away, and within a second, the loud crack of thunder erupted through the sky. "And so it has begun." Hervor stated as she took an arrow and drew it back, ready to loose, and waited.
Soon after, as predicted, the deserters began to run through the area below them, and as a result, she loosed her arrows in a steady stream as Loki flung his daggers, using his seidr to bring them back to him after they slaughtered their foes. No reinforcements came, and it came as no surprise when a call rang out from not too far away, declaring Asgard to be victorious.
"Another easy triumph I would think." Loki smiled as he walked along the path that led back to the main army. "I am glad to see your uneasy feeling was incorrect."
"You fail to understand my words my friend." Hervor sighed. "I stated something is to change, not that we were to be bested, there is a great difference in those words."
"I think you just over concerned Hervor." Loki dismissed. "You are as deadly and as precise as ever."
"I still think you would be better with a true Shield Maiden."
"And what of you were I to do such a preposterous thing, pray tell? Become a seamstress, a baker, perhaps a midwife? You know yourself Hervor, this is your life, and you would be unhappy without it." Loki lowered his voice as they came into view of the others, though there was no possibility of them ever hearing the words between the pair. "Brother, it seems we live to fight another day."
"Yes, did you have any interest on your side. I saw a few flee."
"Yes, they were easily dealt with, I feel as though you wanted to have us away from all the fun."
"It would not have been fun had we been ambushed from the side." Thor argued. "Were you so desperate for blood Loki?"
"Of course not, as let's face it, we were most integral." Loki smirked. "I am merely making comment."
"A bow and arrows, not your usual style Lady Hervor." Sif commented.
"To safely dispose of so many foe from a medium ranged vantage point in a swift manner, can you suggest a better weapon?" Hervor challenged, and Sif remained silent. "As stated before, it is my duty to be proficient in every form of weapons combat." With nothing more to say, she walked off.
"Are we ever going to know why you harbour such a hatred of Hervor, Sif?" Loki queried. "Is there an actual reason or is it just plain jealousy, because having questioned her on the subject more times than I can count, she seems as oblivious as the rest of us as to why you despise her."
"Do you not have someone else to bother?" The Vanir warrior snapped before storming off.
"I take it that there is no valid reason then." Loki commented boredly as he followed after Hervor back to their horses. "Why did you walk off?" He asked as he reached Hervor.
"I think it best not to remain around Lady Sif at present, she is noting a great deal with regards my weapons, I do not wish to rouse her suspicions too much." She explained as she mounted her steed.
"I suppose not, though I doubt you have much to concern yourself with." Loki too mounted his horse. "Though I would love to find out why she hates you so."
"As would I, I was actually quite excited to meet her when Frigga assigned me to you, a woman who achieved so much by her own doing. But I never could figure out her dislike, she was short and snappy with me since I arrived, I doubt that will change now. I feel as though she is disappointed the Kursed did not finish me off."
"I think that is a little much." Hervor looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Okay, she did not seem overly heartbroken by your state." He admitted.
"I wish she would either tell me what I did to wrong her so greatly or at least not make comment whenever I see her." Hervor trotted on.
That evening, there was a feast in honour of yet another victory for Asgard and her armies. Hervor was cautious not to drink as she had the time previous, her first experience of a hangover she swore would be her last, for it was not a pleasant sensation. She ate and drank along with the others, but remained silent for the most part, seated among some of the other soldiers. When the feast ended and the hall began to empty, she found herself cursing the fact she was cornered by the Warrior's Three.
"You should have sat with us." Fandral smiled.
"I do not wish to cause any awkwardness, Lady Sif has made clear her feelings of me, to have come over would have caused tension, such is not wanted after a hard days fighting." She explained, giving the faintest of smiles before wishing them a good evening and walking off.
She had barely made it to the hallway when Loki walked up beside her. "So, pleasant meal?" He grinned.
"Oh yes, I adore being wedged between fat men indulging in too much wine and ale as well as meats."
"I dare say you do. I missed you at the top table, Lord Tyrson is such a pain to listen to, you swear he single handed defeated our foes today." He groused.
"It is a terrible infliction that the position of your birth has caused such to be your duties." She chuckled, knowing how greatly he truly despised playing the willing ear to the ramblings of idiots.
"Shut up." He grinned back, leaning into her so to get her to stumble over slightly. "Still have that uncomfortable feeling?"
"Yes, and it is intensifying." She admitted.
"Perhaps you are still perceptive to your surrounds." Loki suggested. "But that you interpret them differently now."
"That is a possibility." Hervor acknowledged. "Nevertheless, that does little to aid me at this late hour. I fear I am only fit for my bed. Goodnight my friend, I wish you pleasant dreams."
"I am in a similar way myself, and I wish you the same." Loki grinned again before heading to the door of his rooms as Hervor made her way to hers next door.
Both ceased moving when they heard the sound of Einharjar marching toward them, looking quickly to one another, they turned to their lefts and waited to see what was happening. There was no need for a change of guard at such an hour, and the speed they were going at indicated there was no great rush, meaning the palace was not at risk, so why where they making their way to the royal chambers. When they turned the corner, they seemed surprised to see the prince and his Shield Maiden standing there waiting for them.
"Your Highness." One bowed as they halted in front of the prince. "We were requested by the Allfather to have you and the Shield Maiden Hervor come to the throne room immediately."
Looking at one another in confusion, the pair cursed the loss of their early enough night sleep so to see what was happening before doing as requested and following the Einharjar.
"Do you think this is that sensation you were feeling?" Loki asked just as they got to the throne room..
When the door opened and the saw Sif looking at them as Odin glared at Hervor from the throne, she swallowed hard. "I think this exactly what I was concerned for."
